Monday, February 1, 2010

Perfect Gluten Free Popovers Recipe

I remember the first time I had popovers as a little girl. I was reading the Winnie the Pooh cookbook and I begged my mom to make them. I don't remember how they turned out, but I definitely remember reading the book and being in awe over Piglet's popovers.

I made popovers several times before I went gluten free and I remember them being "okay", but nothing spectacular.

But these gluten free popovers? Oh my goodness they are SO delicious. Light, airy, and crispy to the touch on the outside with a lucious warm custard on the inside. They are similar in taste to pancakes, but have such a wonderful crisp texture and flavor. We like them best right out of the oven hot and steaming... but they are also delicious with casein free margarine and jam.

Either way, I think if you make these once... you'll be hooked.

You can certainly buy a popover pan which would yield much higher rising popovers... but it isn't necessary. They are just as delicious short in a muffin pan! There are several things you can do to make your popovers rise higher:

Get your muffin or popover pan HOT before you add the batter. I actually just add my muffin pan to the oven as it's heating, so it gets REALLY hot before I add the batter.

Use eggs that are at room temperature. The colder the eggs the less rise you'll have on the popovers. I'll pull my eggs out of the fridge about an hour before I plan on making them.

If possible use a blender to mix your batter. Blend it by pulsing it just for about 30 seconds. Do not overbeat your batter. You don't want the structure of the eggs to break down. If you use a blender for about 20-30 seconds, you'll get just enough air added into the eggs to create a great rise on your popovers!

Do not open the oven for a full 25 minutes while baking!

Pierce your popovers with a knife as soon as they come out of the oven to release the steam. This will help the popovers to keep their height.

But no matter how your popovers come out, whether they are short and stocky or highly risen... they are incredibly tasty either way. These have become our favorite breakfast bread. Enjoy these easy popovers for breakfast, with your dinner, or just because!

Directions:Preheat your oven to 425 degrees. Place your muffin tin or popover pan in the oven to get very hot. In your blender add eggs, milk, and honey. Blend for about 10 seconds just to break the eggs and mix together. Add the flour and salt and blend another 20-30 seconds just until batter is incorporated and bubbly. When oven has preheated, remove hot pan with oven mitt. Spritz muffin cups or popover cups with non-stick cooking spray or brush with olive oil. Pour batter in hot muffin cups 2/3 full. Place pan immediately in hot oven and cook for 25 minutes and DO NOT OPEN the oven during that time. You want a completely draft free baking period! Remove the popovers from the oven after 25 minutes. Prick them with a fork or a knife to release the steam. Eat immediately plain or with casein free margarine and fruit jam!

Mix together and store in an airtight container. Makes 3 cups of all purpose gluten free flour. This is a very starchy, low fiber gluten free flour mix, that is not necessarily healthy. But it does work well in recipes like this that need less dense flours for a light and airy end product!

24 comments:

Hi Lisa! It would probably work fine with brown rice flour! Give it a shot. My only concern is that brown rice flour is a heavier flour that the white rice flour mixture.... but definitely try it! Even if it didn't rise too high, they would still be delicious!

I made popovers on Christmas morning and posted them around then, too. I used a muffin pan, and one of my commenters mentioned that they sunk in the middle. I wonder if that's an effect of the pan we used? Regardless they are AWESOME. So glad you get to enjoy them gluten-free, too!

Hey Abby! It may be the pan - the reason they sunk in the middle... but honestly every regular "wheat based" popover I've ever had sunk in the middle as well... I think they are supposed to do that, especially after they have cooled for a few minutes. I think like a souffle, they only stay risen when they are hot out of the oven and can quickly sink. I could be wrong about that... but I've had many a popover and they were all like that! So I think we're good and did the right things! :-) And I just might have to get popover pan... I loved your description of them! :-) We did good girl!

Hi Vicki! No it's not strange at all. I think popovers are actually a very British bread (similar to Yorkshire pudding) and are not quite as common in America. Although I could be totally wrong about that... but I don't think it's wierd at all! :-)

Thank you so much! I love your blog and read it regularly. I've missed these since I was diagnosed with food allergies. I think I'll make these tonight to have with dinner. I'm so excited to try these. We're having soup and I think these will go nicely with it.

I love popovers. Yours look wonderful, Carrie. That one with the face is too cute. They offer such wonderful flavor and texture even when gluten free. Folks are always surprised. I have even made some sweet popovers lately and they are especially loved. :-)

I'm really excited to try these! I was recently camping with friends at Acadia National Park, and they have a place that makes popovers. I was the only one at the table who couldn't have any. I'll have to make these the next time my friends come over. :)

I made these 3 times this week, each time with something a little different inside. The first time, I stuck a single raspberry and chocolate chip inside for a tasty surprise. Next I stuck a whole bunch in - even better. And today, I used bits of strawberry and blueberries, even more yumness!

I made these to go with steak and kale for dinner last night, but I used coconut milk and Namaste Foods Pizza Crust Mix as my flour blend. It made wonderful herb popovers! The pizza crust mix has brown rice flour, tapioca flour, arrowroot flour, xanthan gum, garlic, cream of tartar, baking soda, Italian seasoning and granulated onion in it.

Thank you for this recipe! I use Bob's Red Mill all-purpose gluten free flour mix (sometimes a mix of Bob's with white rice flour) and real milk and they are so delicious! I usually omit the honey as we use the popovers as little cups to hold things like pot-pie filling; the other day we used them as cups for leftover stuffing and cranberry chutney. My husband can't get enough of them.